Wednesday, July 6, 2022- The Oregon Trail- Fort Kearney, Chimney Rock, and Scotts Bluff, Nebraska

     There was certainly an historical theme to the stops for today. We were following the historic Oregon Trail, along with the California Trail and the Pony Express. Kearney, Nebraska, is also the “Sandhill Crane Capital of the World” (not just the United States— the World!). Apparently when half a million cranes gather here during mating season, it is quite a site. We didn’t see any today though and we don't know where they go for the rest of the year.

     Our first stop this morning was the site of Fort Kearney. It was established by the army in 1848 to help protect the settlers who were on their way west on the Oregon Trail. Only a year later, the stream of 49ers headed to the gold fields in California were also passing through. It was a stop on the Pony Express, and quite an important spot for a brief time until the 1870s. We stopped at the state park here first thing this morning, and we arrived at the visitors center before it was even opened. It was a good decision to save this site until the cool of the morning. It was in the 70s and much cooler than yesterday. Scott watched a somewhat-dated video to introduce why the Oregon Trail and the fort were here along the Platte River. Abby was restless so the three girls went outside as Scott watched the video and then examined the artifacts on display. Many of them were excavated by archeologists here. When we went out back to the site of the fort itself, there were a few reconstructed buildings and a flag pole, but not much to photograph. There was a blacksmith’s shop with a sod roof and a powder magazine that was completely covered with grass. The inside of the magazine smelt of skunk and signs warned that they are in the area. Most of the sites of the fort’s former buildings were just marked with posts in the ground, set about a foot high or so. From a distance, it looks almost like a cemetery. A flagpole stands in the center of the fort where the original flagpole stood, and it normally flies a 29-star flag, but it was not up yet today. There is a smaller reconstructed fort, Fort Mitchell, that is standing nearby and its stockade and some buildings were recreated in the 1960s, but we chose not to go to that today. The weather forecast was calling for thunderstorms later in the afternoon and we wanted to see if we could beat the storms to our western destinations.

     We had more than three hours, probably more like four, to go to our next stop. We passed up on going to some tourist trap places. We saw but didn’t stop at the Arch which crosses route 80 in Kearney, and “Fort Cody” in North Platte, along with some cowboy themed places in Ogallala. It’s not that we are above such places, goodness knows, but we were trying to make time to beat the weather. We followed Route 80 to Ogallala (which we are noting here just because its fun to say Ogallala). There the trail turned more to the north. The land changed from being very flat to having rolling hills, but sometimes with sharp drop offs where erosion has carved them away. The landscape was certainly more interesting here and definitely looked more "Western." Somewhere in western Nebraska, we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone, so that gained us an hour. As we were driving, Scott spotted the two large rock formations known as Jail and Courthouse Rocks. These were named because one looks like a big building and the other looks like a smaller building, and they were sites recognized by travellers on the Oregon Trail.

     Chimney Rock is probably the most iconic place in Nebraska. As the travellers on the Oregon Trail passed it, nearly everyone who was keeping a diary made a note about it. It was chosen to represent Nebraska in the state quarters series that was released by the US Mint several years ago. We spotted it from about 10 miles off. It doesn't rise up out of completely a flat landscape like we are often lead to believe. Instead it sits at the end of a long ridge, and a lot of the land in the ridge is actually higher than the "chimney." But even so, it is distinctive. "It looks as if the land is giving you the middle finger," said someone in our car. The visitors center nearby seems to be about as close as you can get to it, but it does offer a nice view of it. The trick was getting into the visitors center. We saw the sign that rattlesnakes are common in the area but we didn't see any (not there, anyway). However some visitors that were leaving warned us about the mosquitos. No sooner had we heard their warning when Emma cried out that there were a bunch on Scott's legs already. Swatting them left blood on his legs and his hand. We all ran in to the visitors center to take shelter in there. They said that this mosquito swarm wasn't usually there but recent rain had brought them out and they seemed to be collecting right outside their entry, ready to pounce.

     Inside the visitors center was a small, but wonderful museum. Its exhibits were creatively "hands-on" in ways that we haven't seen before. Even the restrooms were educational, with facts about the dangers of going to the bathroom on the Oregon Trail told in interesting infographics on the back of the stall doors and trivia about the appearance of the settlers printed on the mirrors. Our favorite exhibit in the museum was a small covered wagon that you loading up with supplies for the Oregon Trail. The lights on the wagon would turn red if it was overloaded and you had to put something back. That was the most elaborate and creative activity, by far, and Abby kept returning to it to load it up with sacks of sugar and hardtack, tinware, tools and other supplies. There was a patio where you could view Chimney Rock outside again, and we got a teacher visiting from Virginia to try to use Julie's camera (formerly Anna's) to take a family picture. We hoped we got at least one useable one, but we should use a phone if we do that again. Luckily the mosquito swarm seemed to be at the front entrance, not here, but we had to rush back through them to get to the car again. Before leaving, Scott bought a small pioneer wagon that will probably end up in his classroom, but Abby liked playing with it. Scott didn't buy a t-shirt, but he did laugh a lot at one that said, "Nebraska- Honestly, It's Not For Everybody."

     Our next stop was closeby- Scotts Bluff National Monument. Like Chimney Rock, it was an imposing landmark on the Oregon Trail, the California Trail for the 49ers, and the Pony Express. Scotts Bluff meant that the pioneer emigrants had made it one third of the way to Oregon, but now were going to have to face the Rocky Mountains. It wasn't easy to anticipate what this place would look like because it seemed to look a little different in each of the pictures we had seen of it. As you approach it from the east, you find yourself entering a large U shape, with the walls rising around you to heights of 800 feet. As you get boxed in, there are two ways out- the wide opening to the rear and the narrow pass in front of you that the pioneer trails and the modern road will take you through through. The walls are irregular, steep and grand. The pioneers thought it looked like castles or forts from a distance. One pioneer called it "a Nebraska Gibraltar."

     We went into the visitor's center and had to wear masks here because of federal regulations. Even Abby had one on, for at least a little while. We watched a movie about the formation and its history, and looked at a couple of the exhibits. they weren't anywhere near as elaborate as the ones at Chimney Rock, but they were still interesting. We went outside to view the magnificent rocks again. Scott walked out in front of the visitor center where there were some wagons set up to see if he could get some panoramic pictures and video. While he was headed out, he saw what was definitely a rattlesnake. It was crossing the sidewalk a little ways in front of him and two smaller groups of people were watching it slither into the grass. One of them commented that it was a young one because of the small number of beads on his rattle. By the time Scott got over to the people, the snake had gone a ways into the grass and was continuing to depart. Scott could still see it with his eyes, but couldn't find it when he looked through the camera, so alas, there are no pictures to prove his story, but he is sticking to it.

     We took the 1.5 mile Summit Road to the top of the northern part of the bluff and were treated to a spectacular view. We got Abby to look away from "Blaze and the Monster Machines" on the DVD player when we went through several tunnels on the way up. Once we were at the top, we took some pictures. Scott walked away again to follow a 1/8th mile trail to the South Overlook which gave him a breathtaking view of the visitors center, the road we came up, the towns of Gering and Scottsbluff and the Nebraska prairie beyond them. The views made us excited for what we hope to see tomorrow in the Rocky Mountains.

     After we left Scotts Bluff National Monument, we went to our hotel in the town of Scottsbluff. We checked in, dropped Emma and Abby off at the room and Scott and Julie went to a nearby Urgent Care. Scott had noticed that one of the tips of his hearing aids was missing this morning, and he suspected that the cone was still in his ear, but he didn't know for sure. The doctor there confirmed it was in his left ear, tried to flush it out, but eventually had to take it out with a tool. Scott will have to get that tip replaced when we get back home, and for now he will make do with just his right ear's hearing aid.

     We went to dinner at a restaurant called Shari's, which apparently is a chain known for its pies. After that, we stopped in at the Target across the street for a few necessities and went back to the hotel to call it a day. Scott told Julie he was going to write about all this in the blog for today: mosquito swarm, rattlesnake sighting, Urgent Care visit. She said he needed to make sure that no one would think those were all related. The thunderstorms that we were originally expecting didn't materialize at all today. The sky was overcast, but that meant it was cool- in the high 70s and much nicer than it has been for the last two days. As a result, it was a great day.

A few bonus panoramic pictures today from Scotts Bluff-